by 5-- another poll, it'sa one-point race -- >> i know. that's what i am saying. the polls are all over the place. >> sean: but the balance is gone. that's a fact. >> i don't think so. it is too early to tell that. >> sean: we will have more tomorrow night t. may be busy. greta's next, see you tomorrow night. >> greta: you are looking live at cairo, egypt. it is almost dawn. 4:00 a.m. violence is feared and thought to be imminent. the muslim brotherhood and other radical islamic groups, calling for massive anti-american protests. not only in egypts, but countries across the region. today, chaos in another u.s. embassy, this time, yemen, angry protesters chanting death to america, death to israel and burning american flags. now, all of this amid growing

criticism of the obama administration's handling of this international crisis, a crisis that has now led to the murder of four americans, whiching the u.s. ambassador, libya and two former navy seals. >> the world needs american leadership, the middle-east needs american leader help and i intend to be a president that provides the leadership that america respects. >> would you consider the current egyptian regime an ally of the united states? >> i don't think we would consider them an ally, but we don't consider them an enemy. >> we don't have the mutual defense treat weegypt. what we do have is a very strong defense relationship. we expect that strong defense relationship to continue. >> we have sent a sense of weakness to them and a apologetic and shades of the carter administration >> i don't understand this, why of all people, barack obama wants to emulate jimmy carter. >> what this is about is american weakness and the president's inability to lead.

>> i want you to know that we will bring those who killed our fellow americans to justice. >> this is happening because we have a disaster... as a president. >> greta: right now, you are looking live at cairo, egypt. protesters clashing nonstop with the police n. minutes, we will have a live report from cairo. former u.n. ambassador john bolton is here. in less than 24, 36 hour, libya, egypt, yemen, gauza iran, they are all shouting death to america. what happened? >> i think in the next 24 hour, what we are going to see is the risk that after friday prayers, violence will break out, all throughout the region. and i think what we have seen in the past two days ignite is this wave of radical ideology in the region, coming to the fore. i think they sense weakness on the part of the administration. they have seen that the

governments of libya and egypt have failed to provide adequate protection for our diplomats and our embassies, that was repitate -- replicated today in yemen with the demonstrators on the gates of the embassy. i think our personnel are at risk and private american who is do business or on tourism in the region. we are in a very dangerous period and there is no sense that there is anybody on the bridge of the ship. >> greta:: either this was very well orchestrated and everyone got together in the weeks or months leading up to this and said this is going to happen because it happened almost simultaneously, within 8 to 10, 24 hours of each other. or we have so missed the simmering hostility against the united states in these cities that one event could triggener multitelpel countries and almost a similar, almost identical event. >> for all those who think the facebook, twitter, second quarter media revolution is a

wonderful thing, this is how evil spreads as l. i fear something even worse. people have said libya was different from egypt because libya was obviously a terrorist attack and assassination attempt. look, if you can do it in benghazi, you can do it in cairo. if that was al qaeda in benghazi, they could be in egypt. they are certainly in yemen. they could be in other middle eastern capitols, too. to take advantage of the cover provided by rioters and mobs, all across the region. >> greta: as we sit here and it is just after 4:00 a.m. in cairo and the middle-east. and those are live pictures of what is going on. we are waiting for the sun to come up. i am cure nous, in light of where we are with the multiple countries and protests and the four murders in libya, i am curious, is there anything president obama can do right now to try to contain this, so it doesn't get worse in the next few hours? >> yes, i think he should have been much clearer to every

government in the region that we expect that our diplomats and our private personnel in the region will be protected and that if they are not, we will not take it lying down. we won't just express sympathy for the families of the deceased, we are going to cut assistance and take stronger steps as well. the palpable feeling in the region is that the united states views this as not with indifference, at least without any clear plan in mind, what to do. we have cast israel adrift and the sense of american withdrawal and decline and indecisiveness is spreading rapidly. >> greta: you know, it is so disheartening, i remember june of 2009, we went to egypt, where president obama spoke in cairo and spoke to the muslim world. you know, he hoped -- we hoped that it would somehow put the lid on simmering problems. but fast forward and we see an absolutely explosive situation that is not getting any better right now. everyone is indeed, nervous, and

for good reason. we have already had four murders. >> i think when people sense weakness on the part of the united states, they take advantage of t. the argument that the president made in the cairo speech was, we are not against islam. and that makes us different from the bush administration. the fact is, we have never been against islam. nobody in america really is. they are against radical islam and islamic terrorism. you know the people who are the hurt the most by islamic terrorism, other muslims. they understand it very well. when they don't see the united states standing up against the terrorists, they fear for their own safety as well. that is the consequence of a weak american leadership role in the region. >> greta: what is so peculiar about this, if you look at the trailer online, the original youtube and what i am understanding is that version was then translated into arabic. i can't read arabic. i don't know what happened when it got to arabic and it has been retranslated back into english. and what has enflamed some, and

yet, you know, we have such low standing in these regions that the united states government doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. supposedly, this was done by one or two people, yet, the whole united states government and the american people are being tarnished and blamed for this video. >> but this video has nothing to do with what's going on. it is a pretext. if it weren't for the film, it would be something else. yet, our administration has made a grave error in highlighting the film itself, by trying to distance the administration from the film, by having the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff -- for god's sakes, call this pastor in florida who has been flogging the film around, it gives them the dignity that they don't deserve to have. we should not be operating under the belief that the film is the problem. the problem is the religious fanaticism and the hatred for the united states that motivates the leaders of the muslim brotherhood and egypt and al qaeda and other terrorists.

that's what we have to deal with. not a blame america first response. >> greta: i wasn't suggesting that. in fact, i do not think, after watching the video i watched, that the people who are now making comments about it watched the same video. that's number 1. i will leech it at that. let people look at the film. but the fact that it was used as a pretext, i agree it was a pretext. but thrs they're so quick to grab the pretext and to run with it and to protest and to murder because we have such low standing in those areas and we are so uninfluential that there is a willingness -- so many people hate us that they grab that and run with it. >> we have helped precipitate this crisis in egypt, in particular. hosni mubarak said for decades, if i go, the muslim brotherhood will follow. yet, we threw him under the bus and there they are. there are people who said that the muslim brotherhood is moderate. the muslim brotherhood won't run for the parliament. the muslim brotherhood won't run a presidential candidate.

mohammed morsi will be a figurehead. all of this has been proven wrong. now the question that experts are debating: are the protests the instigation of the muslim brotherhood or of the even more radical forces inside egypt? i think the fact that we have so poorly understood what really motivates many of these people has led to this problem. i think the guide for american foreign policy has been not some abstraction, but what is in american national interest? for 3 1/2 years, we have seen the sacrifice against an ideological spectrum and we are suffering from that today. >> greta: there is no respect for americans by the protesters. and they are insulting, putting our people at risk. they are destroying our property. and in terms of the -- in terms of the brotherhood, they are the ones who at least it's reported, are calling for this protest to happen in cairo, that we are at least watching the beginnings

of. so the muslim brotherhood, at least tonight, seems to be up to their eyeballs in this protest. ambassador, thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> greta: the growing violence sal50. to president clinton. good evening, dick. >> hi. well, i think that eye think absolutely, this is what happens when you have a weak presidency. maybe bush was too strong and the casualty there is that people start turning against the war. but obama is way too weak. and like with jimmy carter when the american president is weak, our enemies are going to take advantage of him. >> greta: how do we separate out that -- the crisis right now, we are looking at the beginnings of, we are looking at a from -- at a protest.

how do we separate out the real crisis that the nation is facing tonight there and the political impact because this does have a political impact back home. it is used as a weapon, back and forth. >> i think that the administration has some explaining to do. there is a newspaper in britain, a credible source, the independent, which says that senior diplomatic officials in the united states report that we had 48 hours of warning of the libyan attack. and in any case, it doesn't take a genius to know that it is going to be september 11 and that that is a time when you need to boltster -- bolster security, especially in libya -- >> greta: let me stop you there. i saw that report. we have been trying to trace that one down to see if we can corroborate t. our people here are unable to corroborate that as being true. >> but a british newspaper, one of the major dailies in the united kingdom is not going to

run with that story,ings in they have sources. they said senior diplomatic source, that means american source, not hillary or her people, but from the diplomatic core. i upon suspect what is going on on here is that they have lost one of their own and they are raising hell through this leak, toze why the administration didn't act to protect them. -- the point here, from politics because that is what i am here to talk about -- is not so much why the muslims came after us, which are probably retaliation for the killing of one of their al qaeda leaders and september september 11. i don't think the movie was anything more than a pretext. but the real question is what is the political impact of a president who is so busy campaigning that number 1, he can't meet with netanyahu, during a period of crisis because he's far too busy on letterman that night. and secondly, who misses half of his intelligence briefings, and

thirdly, didn't take serious warnings 48 hurs in advance that this attack was going to happen? and finally, approved an american diplomatic embassy statement apologizing for the video and condemning it, rather than condemning the violence. then -- >> greta: well -- i -- [overlapping dialogue] >> re-upped the statement and tried to criticize romney for that. >> greta: what i don't understand, whether those 48 hours' notice or not, which we have been unable to verify. but the region is a powder keg and we should have known that because there was such a swift reaction. frankly, i am curious whether any of the people who have spoken out on behalf of the administration about this movie have looked at the movie or whether they are just relying on the -- >> forget the movie. it has nothing -- >> greta: i -- >> this is propaganda. >> greta:: this is a pretext. i got that. i got that [overlapping dialogue] >> greta: nonetheless, dirks it is part of the narrative because

it's being used. i agree it's a pretext and it may be phony, but that is the pretext and it is part of the narrative that we are dealing with tonight. as this crisis is growing. >> why would they have -- why would the united states government have four marines guarding this embassy in libya with the instruction that they should carry no ammunition in their guns? what is this about?! they knew it was september 11. they knew that something was going to happen, if they didn't have specific 48 hours' notice. every september 11 -- we are not talking about the american embassy in bangladesh or something. we are talking about it right in the missed of the middle-east in a country that is enormously unstable. let me say this -- >> greta: let me just respond to that. frankly, i just -- for me, it seems so amateurish that we didn't know that this was an extremely volatile situation. i saw that as i reverse engineer it. you don't have all of these places erupt allat at once, if

this hasn't been simmering and it's amateur that we don't department see in come. ing. >> there is another dimension that is more important. when things went wrong in iraq, we blamed bush. when things went wrong in vietnam, we blamed nixon or johnson. when things went wrong in korea, we blamed truman. when things go wrong in libya, we blame obam a. libya is obama's war. he started it. he fought it. he spent $2 billion on it. he did the no-fly zone. and the arab spring is something that he has encouraged from the very beginning. now it is exploding on his watch. and i think that this is his crisis. >> greta: dick, thank you. >> thank you. >> greta: straight ahead, as you look at the picture, you know, we are bracing for the possible worst. egypt's muslim brotherhood calling for massive protests today, friday. it is almost morning in cairo,

right now. trouble is feared to be imminent. we will have a live report, up next. and the libyan ambassador to the united states. he knew chris stevens well. what does he think really happened in benghazi? you will hear from the libyan [ engine revving ] ♪ [ male announcer ] every car we build must make adrenaline pump and pulses quicken. ♪ to help you not just to stay ale... but feel alive. the new c class is no exception. it's a mercedes-benz through and through. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. and also to build my career. so i'm not about to always let my frequent bladder urges, or the worry my pipes might leak get in the way of my busy lifestyle. that's why i take care, with vesicare.

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irksz in just hours, they are expecting an explosion of anti-american protests after friday prayers. leyland viter is live in cairo. leyland? >> reporter: good evening, greta. from here, it is 4:15 in the morning in cairo. and still, the volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets from the egyptian military are ringing out, as they try to beat back protesters, making their way toward the american embassy. we can smell the tear gas from where we are. a live look on the ground shows you that the fires are still burning, that the rioters set. and they're very, very angry. you have to understand the visceral anti-american sentiment.

they are walking into walls of tear gas, time after time. the egyptian military is starting to hold its disbrownd push people back from the american embassy. something they didn't do 48 hours ago. in the middle-east, there is growing tension in yemen, there was a large scale riot, where the capitol, rioters were able to breach the compound walls of the american embassy. in iraq, more anti-american protests as well. this is stem from this video that was posted online, which many are taking to be insulting to the prophet, muhammad. it is interesting to hear how that is transferring into the rhetoric of a lot of these protesters, who are chanting something very common in arabic, which translates to -- we give our soul, we give our blood for you, our prophet, which is a testament to their faith. there are a lot of people giving blood here in cairo, hundreds of people injured out in the streets. that's before the major group,

including the muslim brotherhood, the party of the president here in cairo, have their major march tomorrow. there is a million-man march planned for tahrir square, a couple of hundred yards away from the embassy. that's the muslim brotherhood's main protest march. it is penitentiary to understand, here on the ground, the difference in the people that we are seeing. 18 months ago in the revelation -- revolution, it was a young, secular, liberal group who wanted hosni mubarak out of office, now this is a poorer, anti-american group, chanting "death to freedom," instead of "freedom, out, out, hosni mubarak." a very different group and a much more violent one. prayers start in a little less than eight hours. greta? >> greta: where is the american embases staff? are they still in -- in egypt? or have they been evacuated? >> reporter: there are two

compounds here. you have the american embassy, guff over my left shoulder and then you have the living compound, which is about 30 minutes away and the staff is bused here every day in a secure bus. the main part of the staff, people who do consular affair, cultural attaches, nonessential staff are not necessarily at the embassy, but there is a contingent,-- the security staff, marines and other essential personnel who will be at the embasso tuesday night when the attack occurred, what their specific security arrangements are here, hard to say. typically, you have the host country providing the outer perimeter security. that failed on tuesday, obviously the egyptian military has greatly beefed up the security. have you an inner guard force, hired by the united states, normally locals egyptians here and the final line of defense is

a combination of united states marines and former military contractors, like the two men who were killed in libya, providing that final line of defense for the u.s. embassy. the question is going to be, whether those marines are going to have to pull out those loaded m16s and riot gear, if the protesters once again breach the walls of the embassy here in cairo, as they did on tuesday. >> greta: do you feel safe? >> reporter: thank you. >> greta: leyland? >> reporter: do i feel safe? pardon me, i thought you said, stay safe. do we feel safe on the ground? you feel safe, so long as you stay where you are not supposed to be. it is interesting, the number of emails that we get from advisory groups saying stay away from the american embassy, there is going to be violence. i feel safe on the street right now? no, not at all. as an american citizen, you are a target by the fact that you

speak english. it is very clear this is an anti-american crowd, when there is a group chanting "death, death to america!" walking in and saying, "hi, i'm an american journalist, i would like to talk to you about why you feel this way," not end up very well. up here in a secure location, much better. that's why we are here and don't plan to go downstairs any time soon. >> greta: we will check back with you later in the hour. up next, the libyan ambassador to the united states, what does he know about what went down in benghazi? when our ambassador stevens and three others were murderd? we will hear from the libyan ambassador. and caught on camera, was the mainstream media trying to trip up governor romney in what reporters said near an open mike. copd makes it hard to breathe,

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>> greta: the libyan ambassadors to the united states says he feels ashamed about what happened in benghazi. chris stevens and three other americans, including two former navy seals were murdered at the u.s. consulate there. that's only the beginning of the attacks on americans that continue at this hour, throughout the region. you are looking live at cairo, egypt. earlier, we went to the libyan embassy here in washington to speak with the imbass dor. you knew ambassador stevens? >> very well.

i knew him for about 6 years. he was committed to helping american relations and he knows the libyans and the libyans, like him this, man with a smile and very often. he was... would speak to everybody he would hmiel meet with. >> greta: do you think he was specifically targetd? >> i don't think he was really specifically targeted. no, maybe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, unfortunate time. i don't think that there was anybody who was really like to -- really committed to target chris stevens. he is part of a revolution. >> greta: four people were arrested. what do you know about the four? >> it is very early to say now. they have just been arrested today. they were speaking this morning with our foreign minister and i told him how much the americans -- what our government

did to help, you know, to make things easy, you know? and at the same time, i think all of us are very concerned that we have to arrest these people and we have to bring them to justice. >> what did secretary of state hillary clinton say? you met with her yesterday. >> she is a marvelous lady. i met her in march 2011, and she gave her support. today, yesterday, when i met with her, my apologies and regrets to what has happened and [inaudible]... but have you to support libya. she is -- she is happy with the way, how the libyans handled the issue, how the government -- i happening the thing that is very clear, this is want government or people of libya behind this attack. this attack is a very small,

stupid people. >> greta: tell me, what do you make of the fact that there are protests in yemen and in cairo, besides just in libya. do you have any connection between the protests? >> well, of course, the connection, i think is the movie. i believe.. -- >> greta: but the movie's just -- i mean, the movie was -- is... not done by american government. people know that, right? >> it is very difficult to distinguish in the middle-east now. because of the different system that we have. anything that comes from a country and they -- they believe that the government is responsible for that because they tried to make it very clear by the administration. but i believe strongly that what is behind this and the protest against the american embassy and all over some countries, it is of this movie. this movie is a very humiliation to the history and to the muslim

and to the prophet. and this is a very delicate subject. but i believe now, the ones responsible for this movie, to me, they are terrorists like anybody else because they are responsible for what happened in benghazi. they create hatred among the people. what he tried to get out of this movie? when i -- what -- what i see -- what i think that the american government -- or any government, when something has happened like this, and somebody he involved in work or act or whatsoever, leads to the killing of, murder of other people, i think we should be investigated. did. >> greta: i guess, you know, you know, if two people make a movie... and four people who are totally innocent eye am not saying -- we don't kill for bad movies anyway, but four people who had

nothing to do with it and the government had nothing to do with it, sparks protests, putting americans at risk, it is deeply troubling to us. >> it is troubling to us, too. nobody agrees at all that to protest this way, to protest with weapon in your hand. nobody justify this is at all. unfortunate, how things, how this is happening, how it has led to the killing of four innocent people, this is really sad. >> greta: up next, our political panel and the sizzling question the president has fumbled. is egypt our ally? how does the president answer that one? and why is the white house back-pedagging? in two minutes, a very, very bizarre biproduct of the murder in the middle-east, a twitter war. but who is fighting? we will tell you about it in 2 minutes. [ owner ] i need to expand to meet the needs of my growing business.

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>> greta: talk about two faced, a bizarre result to the protests in the middle-east. a twitter war. the u.s. embassy in cairo, calling out the muslim brotherhood over differences in the enlish and arabic tweets. first, tweeting, we are relieved none of the embassy staff was harmed... >> greta: what do you think about the twitter fight? go to gretawire.com and

>> from america's news headquarters, i'm anita vogel. the u.s. house of representatives passing a six-month spending bill, averting a temporary government shutdown when the current government year expires september 30. decisions on the day-to-day budget of cabinet agencies will be pushed back to 2013. it's the last vote before lawmakers return home to campaign for re-election. the life and achievements of an american hero, neil armstrong. hundreds pabbing the washington national cathedral, paying tribute to the first man on the moon. several of has apollo 11 crewmates among the mourners. armstrong died last month at the age of 82, more than four decades after he uttered the now famous quote, one small step for man, one giant leap before mankind. let's go back to "on the record" and greta.

did president obama shoot first when answering the question, is egypt our ally? yesterday, president obama categories governor romney of shooting 50 and aiming later. but now, president obama has a controversy. he says the u.s. does not consider egypt an ally that. comment exploded all over the president. and the white house trying to walk back the comment. and that created more controversy. tonight, as the protests continue, no one in washington can agree on the correct response to the egypt question. is egypt our ally or not? joining us, our political panel, byron york and casey hunt and michael crowley. byron! is egypt our ally? >> well, they formally are our ally. it was incorrect of the president to say this. there is something called a non-nato ally. so he's wrong and had to walk it

back. on the other hand, egypt sometimes doesn't feel like an ally, i am not sure a lot of people heard that and thought, oh, my god. on the other hand, you know, when mitt romney traveled to england and mildly offended an ally, talk about this british preparation for the olympics, it was a huge uproar. i don't have any problem with obama getting flagged for this. >> the situation on the ground in egypt has changed so fast. this was a country that was -- has been a very staunch ally of ours for decades. we have worked with them in great depth on many of the greatest crisis that we have faced. it has changed and instead of an authoritarian regime that we could -- we knew what they were going to do, if they said they were going to do something, now all of a sudden, you are dealing with a very new elected government that is doing things that, you know, sometimes are back and forth. >> greta: so you have a new government. we are looking at cairo, 4:42 in the morning and turbulent there.

michael, the issue of ally or not, i suspect that egypt will use that against us and against israel, that whole concept, whether or not they are an ally? >> that's what is tricky. what the president said, happens to be true, not official u.s. policy. so he definitely waiverred from what our official policy is and probably shouldn't have said that. and we give egypt $2 billion in foreign aid, a lot of it is military aid. it's an alliance we would like to maintain. i think the thinking in washington is keep them close. keep your friends close and your enemies closer. they may noto be an enemy. but we want to keep the military ties, the military is moderate. what will be the reaction in cairo? while tripoli was the scarier, more vilen, more tragic event, egypt is a larger strategic problem. >> -- >> benghazi, i said tripoli.

>> greta: the fumbling, is it a gaffe with no consequence or a gaffe with uh-oh, now it's going to fuel this controversy? >> given all the other evens, i don't think it has a huge consequence. the state department, the white house papered this over. i don't think it has a huge consequence -- >> greta: i differ with you because i think egypt, the muslim brotherhood is looking for a reason to -- do whatever it can to create problems with israel. i think that they will use that against us. say, well, we are not an ally. >> brit hume raised the question on twitter, saying, i wonder if obama said this to avoid praising a country in which a really angry mob storming u.s. emblassies right now? if emphasizing our alliance with egypt doesn't seem quite reverend jeremiah wright now. >> it underscored how unpredictable the situation is. a lot of people jumped on mitt romney when he made the statement a couple of days ago, but the folks who were looking at that from the other ang angle were saying, well, we don't know how this is going to unfold.

obama is the president. we are 2 months out. >> greta: let me ask you about the movie. have you seen it? >> i watched part of the trailer. it's ridiculous. it's like you drank spoiled milk and you are starting to hallucinate. it's so bad, i can't believe anybody's taking it seriously. >> just the trailer. the origins are fishy and need more reporting because the -- the guy who originally said he was an israeli and his -- he got all of his money from jewish financiers because they hate islam. that's not the case. that's not how this got made. it appears it could have been made by an egyptian and it may be like a two bumper shot right now. it's a very... mysterious thing right now. >> it's being used to explain what happened in kirow and benghazi. and the situation on the ground, if you look at the reporting out of those two countries, there

has been very different moods in both places. some folks who have been in benghazi for a long time, refer to the ambassador there, who is well known, many libyans were embracing and the attitude was, in fact, very different. >> i think the most important thing to take away, the content may be offensive, but the conditions are in the arab world. there is brewing anti-americannism and trying to stir it up -- that's what we need to understand better. >> greta: panel, stick around. an open mike caught reporters talking. you will hear what they said. that's next n. cairo, it is almost 5:00 in the morning, it is very tense. a live report from cairo, coming up ♪ [ malennouncer ] the first look...is only the beginning. ♪ ♪

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>> greta: was governor mitt romney set up? was the mainstream media playing fair? or were they ganging up on the g.o.p. presidential candidate? listen to the open mike, just before mitt romney's wednesday news conference. >> i was thinking regret your question? >> your question i. i mean, your statement. not even the tone because he can go off on >> i can follow up and say, this

morning, you were continuing... >> greta: we are back. does anyone think -- i will start -- was anybody horrified? >> not horrified. the woman's voice is jan crawford, an excellent reporter, very fair reporter, best known for her coverage of the spring. romney took several questions. sometimes, he answers one or two questions. people want to get -- get their question answered. i think this consultation was not necessary because what happened in the press conference is the same question got asked over and over again, so much so that people who were not in the news business watching this were saying what in the world's going on. but i didn't see any huge problem there. >> well, i think there was clearly a bit of a media frenzy

that morning. i don't think it was necessary to ask the same question over and over. but that was the story that everyone's editor wanted to know more about. i think everyone was whipped into a minor frenzy. but that said, i don't see anything conspiratorial in that conversation. ironically, jan crawford took a lot of abuse on the blogs for her coverage of the supreme court's health care decision and people were saying that she was in tight with the conservative justices and was writing stories that made justice roberts look bad. i think she is a really good reporter. i didn't see anything imthereprr there. i think haycould have moved on to the policy. i think some of them might admit that themselves. >> reporters and the public have limited access to people like romney or president obama. and everybody has a limed opportunity to ask questions. something like this wouldn't have map happened just because romney's a republican. it would also happen with the white house press corps, i throw

myself into the mix here. i didn't hear the press conference. i was on the road, traveling to an interview. i just heard this recording. and i have to tell you something, when reporters are sitting around, preparing for these press conferences, we are always talking back and forth. i didn't find just that isolated conversation the least bit unusual. i thought, how should i ask this? so i didn't hear the press conference. i am taking an isolate audio you they are cooped up in one area and talking. >> group think does set in sometimes -- >> greta: that may very well be. >> in a press conference situation, people end up asking ferrel versions of the same question -- >> greta: that might be a different question of how it handle the press conference. but when i look at -- i didn't see the press conference. >> i have seen the same conversations and they were about non-ideological things. they want to get a certain question answered. reporters on the trail, they want a good headline, they want to be on the front page and make

their editors happy. they are looking for news. they wanted him to comment on the thing that all the papers and tv shows were worked up about. >> they could have approached it from a different point of view -- >> greta: panel. >> boy, you really stepped in it this time, didn't you? >> greta: that's why. >> they were hard on him. yeah. >> greta: panel, thank you. >> thank you. >> greta: in just hour, anti-american protests in the mideast expected to be bigger and more violent. ♪ why not get buried in something other than work? get two times the points on travel, with chase sapphire preferred. after you jumped buship in bangkok,n. i thought i'd lost you. surfing is my life now. but who's going to .... tell the world that priceline has even faster, easier ways to save you money. . . on hotels, flights & cars? you still have it. i'll always have it.

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>> greta: it's almost day break in the middle east. they're bracing for an explosive anti-american protest. muslim brotherhood and others calling for mass demonstrations today and friday. we're live in cairo with the latest. leeland? >> good morning greta. seven hours from now, noon prayers here in cairo. the muslim brotherhood promises to bring out a million man protest against the united states. and also against an antiislam

movie put out, protests here have been very violent, very anti-american and hateful over the past three days reportedly spray painted on the u.s. embassy, quote, take care america. we have 1.5 billion bin ladens. the imagery coming out of today's protest in the past few days is reminiscent of the clashes we saw during the egyptian revolution, people out there, this is a violent, much poorer group rather than chanting we want freedom are chanting death to america. tomorrow is going to be the deciding point. later today, the question is going to be will these crowds stay? will this revolution continue with more mass demonstrations in the way we saw before? an except this time, not against their leader instead, against the united states. and empowered by the current president. greta,